


Rumor Has It

by phoenixprentiss



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Rumors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24585586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixprentiss/pseuds/phoenixprentiss
Summary: I don't know if this is any good or not. But I figure there's someone out there who will read it and maybe enjoy it. Probably not my best work, but here are my latest musings from the Criminal Minds world.The (kinda long) process of Emily and JJ coming out to each other. Rumor has it that Emily Prentiss might be a lesbian. Set around season two, with no Will, of course.
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 6
Kudos: 136





	Rumor Has It

Jennifer Jareau had a crush. She hated to think of it that way, as if she were twelve years old and in junior high again, but it was, in all honesty, the only word that could describe the flourishing bundle of feelings she was having for the newest team member of the BAU.

In reality, though, she told herself, these feelings were perfectly normal. It was a perfectly  _ adult _ thing to have romantic feelings for someone. Even if that person was a coworker, and a woman… and at that, JJ had absolutely no idea if Emily was interested in other women or not. Knowing her luck, Agent Prentiss would be straight as a line. She seemed like it, maybe, so dignified and resourceful and brilliant… no wonder JJ felt her knees grow weak every time she was around her. Which, considering their professional relationship and intimate team, was  _ a lot _ .

Suddenly, Hotch’s voice pulled her out of her trance. The usual, wheels up in thirty. JJ turned off the display on the TV, clearing away the gruesome photos of their next case, a serial rapist in southern California. As she did, the rest of the team slowly dispersed from the briefing room, shutting their manila folders and pushing back their chairs. JJ truly could not help it as her eyes followed Emily as she left, and then she realized she needed to stop being so obvious. She was constantly surrounded by profilers, who did literally nothing better than read people. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long until somebody noticed.

Reid was the last to wrap up, having gone back to review the photos once more before standing. As he did, JJ smiled at him, following him out. Thinking she was in for some statistics relevant to the case, she almost began to turn off her brain (she didn’t mean to ignore him half the time, but sometimes… it was necessary) until she actually processed what she heard him say. 

“Wait, what?” She asked even though she’d heard perfectly well the first time.

“I said, rumor has it the reason Agent Prentiss doesn’t get along with her mother is because she’s a lesbian.” Spence repeated. His voice was low, and JJ instantly glanced into the bullpen to check if Prentiss was at her desk. In fact, she was in Hotch’s office, which was perfectly fine. She did not want Prentiss to overhear this.

JJ’s mind seemed to fill with bright, white light. She forgot where she was, that they were on a new case. Why was Reid even bringing this up? How did she go about this correctly? More importantly, how was she going to feign only a casual level of interest, when in reality, speculating on Prentiss’ sexuality was something she’d been doing since nearly the moment they met?

“Her mom is?” JJ asked. Did that make her sound stupid? Oh well. They turned the corner, heading down the stairs towards Reid’s desk. He sat down, and JJ leaned against the edge, her arms full of case files.

“No, she is. Emily, I mean.”

Okay, so maybe it was only a rumor, and it was terrible to speculate between coworkers (JJ’s own thoughts? Those were normal, given her feelings), as this could cross the fine line between harmless conjecture and workplace gossip. She didn’t want to do that to Prentiss, but God did she desperately want this to be true. 

“Where’d you hear that?” She asked Reid.

“An old contact of mine who worked with Prentiss’ mother. I had gotten in touch with him a couple of weeks ago about a case, and then he just… told me. I wasn’t asking for information on her or anything, but he had heard that Prentiss had just joined the team and that we’d been in contact with her mom on that case.” His voice was still low, and he was even blushing a little bit. That was a good sign, it meant he wasn’t saying this just for the sake of spreading rumors. But why else? Did Reid know something? She didn’t need to focus on that right now. But maybe he had noticed.  _ I’ve got to be more careful,  _ JJ thought.

Taking a deep breath, JJ said, “Well, I don’t think we should spread any rumors, but I guess if it’s true then it’s up to her to tell us. I don’t think we should speculate too much or even ask her. I don’t know.” She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but her heart hadn’t stopped racing since Reid first said the word  _ lesbian _ . 

“No, I know. It was just interesting given the case we just worked. With her mom and all.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” After a beat, she said, “Well, I have some stuff to wrap up. See you on the jet.”

Reid nodded as she walked off. As she exited the bullpen and made her way back to her office, a million ideas flooded her head. Should she confront Emily directly, saying hey, you aren’t alone as a queer woman in the BAU? But then Emily would wonder how she knew, and she didn’t want to implicate Spence, and she would feel weird claiming it was her gaydar. She could do what she’d done a couple of times before with women she liked— casually make mention of an ex-girlfriend, dropping the hint that she wasn’t straight. Or she could do the right thing, just wait and see if Emily said anything herself. Waiting for that felt like agony to JJ. The middle option seemed like the best, in order to allow Emily to be honest about it but also ease JJ’s mind. She also had to slow down and consider the fact that it might not be true— though why Reid’s friend would’ve said so, she didn’t know. This whole situation seemed weird.

But the strangeness of the situation didn’t stop JJ’s feelings from increasing what seemed like tenfold. For the past several months she’d had to tell herself to try not to get in too far over her head, that there was a solid chance that Emily would be straight and a relationship between them could never happen. With this new tidbit of information in her mind, though, JJ couldn’t stop herself from imagining it all, everything she wanted with Emily. Because now, maybe, there was a chance. It was still possible that Emily might just not have feelings for her in return, but this seemed irrelevant considering she was (maybe) likely gay. 

With everything happening all at once, JJ almost forgot about the fact that she was due on a plane in less than half an hour to fly somewhere in the country in order to catch a serial rapist. Hastily, she grabbed her go bag from under her desk and double checked that she had all the files and information that she needed before shutting off the lights and locking the door to her office. 

As Hotch gruffly stated their initial assignments, JJ couldn’t believe it when she heard, “JJ, I’d like you to go with Prentiss to interview the victims. I can handle the media for now.”

JJ glanced over at Emily, who nodded, glancing between JJ and Hotch. “Alright,” JJ said. This made sense. With all the rape victims being women, it made more sense to have the women of the team interview them. The evil of the case aside, this almost seemed too perfect. Alone with Emily for a couple of car rides, then building a rapport of empathy to interview still-vulnerable victims. What a day.

Once she was in the car with Emily, who was driving them from the airport to the police precinct, she couldn’t stop herself from noticing that she could smell Emily’s perfume and watch all her mannerisms up close. JJ decided almost instantly to throw caution to the wind and do exactly what she had told Spence they shouldn’t do.

“Is your mom still in town?” JJ asked, hoping to start this as casually and innocently as possible. 

“Oh, no. She flew back to wherever she’s stationed last week. Honestly, I’ve chosen to forget already. I mean, you might have noticed but our relationship is a little… rocky, to say to least.” Emily replied, laughing bitterly at the end.

“Oh,” JJ said. “I mean, I hadn’t necessarily noticed, but I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah. It’s fine. Just old stuff.”

After a short pause, a silence that felt maybe the slightest bit awkward, JJ sighed. “Okay, I have to be honest. I heard a— a rumor about why you and your mom don’t get along, and I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but I wanted to ask you first, and I haven’t told anyone, but I heard that—” She grew flustered, not sure how to string her words together despite stating that she wanted to be up front. But before she could even finish, Emily just laughed, and JJ felt the expression on her face grow incredulous.  _ What’s even happening? _

“That I’m gay? Yeah, I wondered how long it would take for that to get around. Well, it’s true.” Emily shrugged, and added, disdainfully,. “Much to my mother’s dismay.”

“Oh?” This was the only word JJ could get out. God, so it was true. Emily’s a lesbian.  _ Emily Prentiss likes women. Slow breaths, JJ. You have to be calm. _

“Well, you know, she wanted me to be the perfect diplomat’s daughter and everything. I came out to her several years ago, and I’ve reminded her several times since, but that has never stopped her from trying to set me up with various ‘young and eligible bachelors’ she meets on the job.” JJ watched as Emily rolled her eyes. “It’s ridiculous. So I rarely talk to her. If I’ve ever tried to tell her about a girlfriend or anything, she’s not interested. I don’t think she’s actually homophobic, but it certainly makes her uncomfortable that I’m out and proud, because I think she worries about her reputation. Which is stupid, if you ask me.” Emily stopped for a moment. “Shit. Sorry for rambling or if I overshared there. But I guess the point is that whatever you heard is true. Who’d you hear it from anyway?”

After everything she’d just heard, JJ hardly knew how to reply. Hardly knew how to form any words at all. “Uh, from Spence, but he said he’d heard it from someone else. I don’t know who. And you weren’t oversharing, it’s fine.” Despite getting these sentences out,  _ holy shit _ was repeating itself over and over in her mind.

“Yeah, well.” Emily said, which sounded to JJ like the end of the conversation. Even though JJ had more to say. So much more. She wanted to come out herself, because she wasn’t sure when else she would have the chance, if Emily’s sexuality would ever come back up. God, why couldn’t she just say it? Growing up in rural Pennsylvania it was easy enough to stay closeted, being bisexual, but in the last couple of years, as an adult, she’d begun to grow more comfortable with her sexuality. She was no stranger to coming out, so why couldn’t she come out to the person she most desperately wanted to know she was bi?

But then Emily turned into the parking lot of the precinct, and JJ wanted to kick herself. Now in order to come out she would have to bring up the topic herself. She had to make it through several hours of emotionally harrowing interviews, already knowing that her work-focused mind wasn’t entirely there.

Despite being a lot to handle, the interviews went well, yielding a couple of descriptions vivid enough to bring out a sketch artist. Taking a break, JJ went to retrieve terrible-tasting precinct coffee for the two of them, which Emily accepted graciously. She sighed after taking a sip, but didn’t say anything, just shook her head. JJ stood across from her, nodding slowly in agreement. They still had about fifteen minutes before the next victim was scheduled to arrive, but neither of them felt particularly like going through all of the information they had just received. 

It was a lot at once. But JJ had perhaps the perfect distraction. She took a deep breath and began talking before she could convince herself it was a bad idea. If she had any hope of being with Emily, she had no choice but to come out to her first, even if it was in the middle of a police precinct and while they were working.

“Um, given what we were talking about earlier, I thought I would tell you that I’m bi.” JJ said, somehow feeling the calmest she had all day. “You know, just so you know you’re not the only queer woman in the BAU. Or the FBI, even.” JJ laughed a little as she finished, but only because she was so desperate to hear Emily’s reaction.

Emily’s eyebrows rose and her eyes seemed to light up. Maybe they didn’t actually, and JJ just wanted to believe they did, but in any case, Emily said, “Really? That’s great.”

“Yeah. So, I actually am sorry to hear that about your mom.”

Emily nodded, taking a short sip from her coffee cup. “Thanks.”

JJ wanted nothing more in this moment to kiss her. If they weren’t in public and currently on the job, maybe she would have. She wondered, helplessly, if Emily felt it too. She desperately wanted her too. But maybe, after everything that had just happened, she was still wishing too hard.

JJ wasn’t sure what to do next. She wasn’t sure what to do with Emily’s reaction either. God, all she wanted was some time alone at home to think through all of this. Hopefully tonight, in the hotel. She knew it would probably keep her up half the night. She already felt exhausted from all of the coming out that had happened on top of the regular pressure that accompanied a case like this one. She glanced at the time, and they still had a little while to wait until the next interview.  _ Please let her show up early,  _ JJ thought.  _ I can’t keep standing here. _

Finally, the interviewee arrived, and as JJ and Emily greeted her and led her to the office they were using for the interviews, JJ swore she could feel something almost physical in the air dissipate.

The day’s interviews brought little new information, aside from getting the sketch artist’s rendition of the potential UnSub out to the media, leaving the team with a less than hopeful outlook towards the case. Later that evening, once each BAU member had retired to their respective hotel room, JJ was just about to slip into bed and try to get at least some sleep when she heard a knock at the door. Not knowing who exactly to expect, though with a small flutter of hope in her chest, JJ unlocked the door and opened it a little. Outside, in the bright light of the hallway, was Emily, wearing an old t-shirt and sweatpants. It was strange, at first, to see Emily dressed so comfortably, an interesting contrast to the usual blazers and button-downs and slacks that gave her the air of highest confidence. 

“Hey,” JJ said, desperately hoping it came out casually despite the fact that her heart had begun to race.

“Can I come in?”

“Of course,” JJ answered, opening the door a little further. She couldn’t imagine what Emily possibly needed this late at night, and her mind jumped to the stereotypical yet unlikely possibility.

JJ shut and locked the door once again, and turned to look at Emily, who was staring so deeply into JJ’s eyes that JJ was sure this was a dream or a fantasy she’d conjured up. What was going on?

Before JJ could ask anything, she was consumed by a crushing kiss, as Emily moved forward and latched her arms onto JJ’s hips. JJ hardly took a second to figure out what was happening in the present moment (it hardly felt real, apparently she was wrong in assuming this might have been an innocent visit) before she returned the kiss with every ounce of urgency in her body. Emily’s hands began to move upwards, underneath JJ’s sleep shirt, and JJ felt as though her legs were going to give out if she had to be standing for one more second. Emily seemed to understand, and pulled JJ by the waist towards the queen bed in the center of the room.

Emily pushed JJ back onto the bed, about to start undressing her. JJ was completely ready to give herself up entirely to the woman above her, but at the same time it didn’t seem quite right to JJ to move forward without saying  _ something _ , especially since both women had been wordless since the door, the only communication between them a desperate need for contact.

“Emily,” JJ breathed. Emily looked down at her, into her eyes, allowing JJ to continue.

“Emily, I…” JJ paused. How to say this, when her mind was on one thing, the thing she’d been craving for months? “I have feelings for you. I have for a while now. And this… this is amazing. I want this. I want  _ you _ . But I don’t want this to be all we have.”

With a smirk, Emily said, “Why do you think I came here tonight?”

“You…?”

“I like you a lot. A hell of a lot.” Emily allowed a beat to pass, and a grin spread across JJ’s lips. Before Emily leaned down to kiss them again, she said, “Now say my name again. I like when you say it.”

“Emily.” JJ said. “Emily, Emily, Emily…” she whispered as the brunette left a trail of kisses down her neck. 

What a day it had been. How the hell had everything changed so quickly, how did she end up here in bed with Emily Prentiss, after starting the day pining after her and thinking she was likely straight? JJ didn’t even want to think about it, not when she finally, laying in bed next to her, had everything she wanted.


End file.
